Showing posts with label dumplings. Show all posts

I got the Escovitch Fish and Festival which is pictured above. Before going in I knew this is what I wanted to get to compare it to Jeremy's Island party fish escovitch. The fish was talapia and the festival in the name referred to the sweet bread stick sitting on the cabbage and carrots. Right above that in the picture you can see a small bowl that contained the escovitch sauce. This was quite a few degrees hotter than Jeremy's sauce. It didn't have bell peppers, only onions, habenero and whole all spice berries. I actually preferred Jeremy's escovitch over this one, which isn't to say this one was bad. The talapia was just a lot thinner so you didn't get that good full bite feeling from it, and the fish itself wasn't as full bodied as the red snapper. In Jeremy's, he had enough veggies to eat with the fish, while this, the onions on top only added a slight seasoning to each bite of fish. But enough about the comparisons. Now we talk about the other good stuff here.

My dad and I both got a mango mint lemonade that was really tasty. There were quite a few chunks of mint and mango pulp but the flavor was awesome.

My mom got the Jerk Chicken off the Grill. It was maybe my favorite thing I tasted. The chicken had a mango chutney stuffed into the crevices of the breast and on top that was killer. My dad got the Jerk Shrimp off the Grill that I didn't get to try because he ate it fairly quickly. I did try his corn on the cob that came with it. It tasted like are really nice fresh grilled corn but had another layer that tasted like it had been marinating in coconut milk before being cooked up.

My sister and Tarrin both got the Brown Stew Chicken which was pretty good. The serving size on this dish was much larger. It was filled out with basmati rice and red beans which I finished off both of their plates when they couldn't eat any more. It was seriously good, especially when it mixed into the Brown chicken sauce. The chicken was really soft and fell apart, and the stew sauce was dark and tasted like a beef stew that had been cooked down to a much richer gravy. Super good.

So yeah we didn't get any desserts but on the way home we stopped at the Churro Station and got like 6 churros filled with a variety of sweet stuff and since they were closing for the night, they tossed in like 4 extra regular churros for free. So I guess this is also a Churro Station review.

Alrighty. Jerk chicken people, that's the name of the game. Can't claim authorship of this recipe though, that would go to our good man Tyler Florence, though we did alter the method a bit. Here's the goods:

-Marinade:

• 2 teaspoons allspice
• 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg
• 1/2 onion
• 8 cloves garlic or 1 whole head
• 1 (1-inch) piece fresh ginger, sliced
• 3 scallions, sliced
• 3 limes, juiced
• Splash low-sodium soy sauce
• 1/4 cup extra-virgin olive oil, plus more for drizzling
• Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper
• 6 sprigs fresh thyme, leaves picked
• 1 Scotch bonnet pepper, halved, plus more to taste
• 1/4 cup packed light brown sugar
• 1 whole free-range chicken (about 5 pounds), cut into 10 pieces
• Limes, for garnish
• Parsley, for garnish
• Smoking chips, soaked in water for 15 minutes

Begin by making the jerk marinade. Combine all the marinade ingredients in a blender and process until you have a smooth puree. Add chicken pieces into a large resealable plastic bag and pour in the marinade. Put the bag into a baking dish and let marinate in the refrigerator overnight. Preheat grill to high. Prepare a table-top smoker or take a roasting tray, line it with foil and add some soaked wood chips to the bottom. Place a wire rack over the top, upside down, and lay chicken pieces over the chips on the rack. Cover with foil and grill over high heat. Smoke for 10 minutes. Preheat oven to 300 degrees F. Transfer the chicken pieces to a baking sheet and drizzle with extra-virgin olive oil. Bake in the oven "low and slow" until chicken is tender, about 1 hour. Remove the chicken from the baking sheet to a serving platter and garnish with limes and parsley before serving.-

Now, we used a deep pizza pan, and placed our woodchips in that, then we took the circular rack from my grill and put the chicken on that. Wrapped it all up in foil super tight, and then skipped the grilling and went straight for some mean steaming. It turned out super juicy, and tender, and fragrant! Boy did this stuff smell strongly. I think we all agreed that it smelled, and tasted like Chino Bandido's jerk chicken, which, if you've never had the pleasure, is something you should try.

Now, for the kapow (the other stuff pictured), we followed Mr. Florence one more time for these bitchin' plantain dumplings.

• -3 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 teaspoon kosher salt, plus more for seasoning
• 2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1/2 cup unsalted butter, cold and cut into cubes
• 1/2 cup milk
• 1 ripe plantain, peeled and cut into coins
• Vegetable oil, for frying

Add the flour, salt and baking powder to a food processor and pulse to combine. Toss in the cold butter cubes and pulse until the mixture resembles coarse bread crumbs. Add milk, a little bit at a time until it is completely worked into the dough. Once it comes together into a nice consistent ball and pulls away from the sides of the food processor, divide the dough into about 12 little balls. Push a slice of plantain into the middle of each ball and pinch the dough around the plantain so it is completely covered by the dough. Press each ball flat into a little cake, cover with a damp kitchen towel and allow to rest for 20 to 30 minutes before frying. Set a large nonstick skillet over medium heat and add 1/4 cup of vegetable oil. Prick the dumplings all over with a fork. Working in batches, pan-fry dumplings until golden and slightly puffy, about 3 to 5 minutes per side. Season with salt and serve warm.-

Basically, think of a biscuit. Got it? Okay, now think of stuffing a banana in that biscuit. There you have it. That's what these taste like. They're weird, but good. This was all accompanied by some nice coconut rice that Stew whipped up. Basically, as I understand it, it was just 2 cups of rice cooked in coconut milk, cut with a little water to have enough moisture. I bet ya Stew will tell ya it needs more coconut. I'm inclined to agree with him, but it was pretty good nonetheless.

Ring da bell, mon!